Electric Ice
by presidentallosaurus
Summary: How could three hundred years of apathy be blasted away by a naive provincial girl? Carmilla was ready for the challenge.
1. Welcome to the 21st Century

_Welcome to the 21st century_

Laura was bored and watching the security system of Ice Electric, a fat underground casino owned by megacompany Westguard. A college freshman with years of cutting through the underbog of the internet under her belt, Laura was a prodigy. She'd hacked the Pentagon when she was ten years old, NASA when she was thirteen, and by sixteen she was rerouting satellite trajectories leaving authorities chasing ghosts.

That was all old hat.

Laura wanted more. She wanted to be a journalist. She wanted to tell the stories she'd unearthed, so many stories buried so deep in the data. Thieves and victims, crime and justice. There were so many more stories out there beyond her reach, that the internet's vast claws had never touched. That's why she'd begged her father to let her come here, to Silas University, in Styria, Austria. The old earth was the perfect place to dig up stories buried deep beneath the soil, give her a challenge and a goal. Plus it got her far beyond the reach of her father's overprotective gaze.

If she was being honest, she'd like to be a story herself. She could see it now. young journalist reveals shocking secrets, brings dead crimes to light and life, resolves mysteries left untouched for generations.

But that was all for the future. Right now, Laura needed to get past college. So she'd be a good schoolgirl for a few years, get her credentials.. that was the plan.

Right now the plan was very, very boring

Struggling to think of a journalism project she could feasibly undertake in Silas, Laura had taken to exploring Styria's burgeoning network as a side-hobby. Watching casino cameras wasn't the most fun idea she'd ever had, but it was interesting enough coming up with stories for the rich and gaunt that frequented the red carpets of Ice Electric. Hacking the security system was child's play- Getting out of Silas' ethernet had been a surprisingly unreal challenge, but more on that later.

Laura spotted something interesting in one of the new feeds leading to the casino's underground vaults. She'd almost missed it. A girl moving like smoke blowing through the drab halls, dressed in tight black clothing. Definitely not someone who belonged there. Someone who was very good at sneaking, and very, very fast. Laura jumped from camera feed to camera feed, trying to track this girl. Who was she? What was she doing? She was beating all of the casino's security systems with ease. Laura suspected even the casino's person being paid to watch the cameras had no idea what was going on under his nose.

It was only when the girl stopped in front of the casino's vault door that she finally got a good look at her. Young, cheek bones, dark hair. Laura quickly hacked into the casino's security as the intruder waved some sort of card over a scanner- no doubt pilfered from someone upstairs. The main locks on the door opened, but Laura was just barely fast enough to disable the door mechanisms, shutting down the door's security but causing the backup locks to remain in place.

The girl got a nasty surprise as she tried to pull the door open, confident countenance giving way to confused, then frustrated body language. Laura smirked. Crime stopped, and no doubt justice would be served, thanks to Laura Hollings, teenage prodigy and was that girl pulling the vault door open despite the locks in place?!

It took her some effort but the intruder grinded an opening wide enough for her to slip through. Laura must have messed up somewhere, there's no way that lithe body had the strength to- why wasn't the alarm going off? OH, right. Laura had disabled everything on the door.

Crap.

Laura considered her options as the girl began to stuff money sacks into a dark bag. If she set the alarm off, security might capture the intruder but they'd also probably wonder why the door's security had shut down in the middle of everything. That was going to be bad for Laura, even if she was confident it couldn't be traced back to her. It meant alarms raised. It meant trouble.

If she didn't set the alarm off, then this intruder was going to slip away with a bag full of stolen money. Narrative over, crime accomplished. That... would be very boring. Laura did not like boring. It's the kind of decision her dad would tell her to make- keep out of trouble, mind her own business.

Laura set the alarms off.

The flashing lights startled the girl on Laura's screen, and she looked around in confusion. For just a moment her eyes locked on the camera watching her every move and Laura could swear she felt that woman glaring at her right through the lenses, as if she somehow knew who was responsible for this. Laura bit her lip and watched as the girl grabbed her bag and made for it.

The on-site guards were already at the hallway outside, a group of four men chosen more for their brawn then their brains. Back up and the REAL security was still assembling and rushing downstairs. Laura felt confident that four men could handle one girl, though.

No, no they couldn't. She shoved them aside like rag dolls and knocked all four of them to the floor. She just ran right past them, leaving at least one man down as the other three struggled to get up. Guns were pulled, but the intruder turned a corner and was gone long before firing became an option. They limped after her, but Laura knew they wouldn't catch her.

She managed, somehow, to follow the intruder's retreat to the staircases. She seemed surprised to find the door locked. Looking around her, she found the camera Laura was watching her through and narrowed her eyes. She mouthed something Laura couldn't make out, and then rammed her shoulder into the door, breaking it open, and then she was gone.

Laura couldn't find her on any of the upper floor camera feeds for the rest of the night. It was a big story all over the news that night though- a ghostly waif stealing a king's ransom from the vaults and dissapearing. Laura would have loved to cover it herself.

As she finally retreated to bed for the night, Laura couldn't help but feel like she'd just taken her first few steps into a much larger world than she had ever envisioned.


	2. Blame it on the Waltzing

Silas University was frequently host to strange events and unusual activities. Maybe it was something in the soil or the water, but everything was just a shade... off at campus. Eyeballs in luncheons, the chemistry club press-ganging test subjects, at least two organizations at open war with each other. There was rarely a boring day.

As if Silas was desperate not to break with this tradition for unusual activities, there was a gala event planned the next weekend on campus. The cause? A new display about a recently obtained jewel that the Silas Museum of Unnatural History had recently come into possession of, thought to be worth millions. The town hall on Silas' campus was an old-timey reception building, one that had been used for balls and parties in the past.

The jewel would be on display on the second floor lobby, while a party - there would be dancing - was held in the main room. There would be a record number of whos who at the party, so of course Laura had to come.

Her roommate Betty was a huge help. Laura hadn't exactly prepared clothes for partying, but Betty had! It turned out that in addition to being prepared to party hard college-style, Betty had really formal-looking clothes in her closet that fit Laura perfectly. Laura suspected that deep inside, or perhaps recently, Betty had been a very uptight and formal fashionista. The Betty of the now had no use for the clothes, so Laura was free to 'borrow' anything she wanted.

The fact Betty was willing to borrow Laura some clothes wasn't the only good thing about her though. She was also a great listener, she had a great sense of humor, and she was so warm and encouraging! Even if she was focused on partying over learning, unusual for a math major (Betty admitted she'd chosen Math because it came easy to her, not because she was overly interested in it- but anything to get a scholarship to go partying at college, right?) the smart-and-maybe-too-extroverted Betty and Laura made fast friends. Laura was calling Betty her new best friend after a few weeks, a title Betty wore with an adorkable blush.

Betty chose flashy clothing that glimmered and twirled. When she demonstrated her twirling technique in front of Laura, she looked like a human disco ball. Flashy, glimmery, twirly, that was Betty up and down. Laura chose a blue top with some major neckline and a short skirt to go with it. It was a little daring, but next to Betty Laura looked ready for a formal event.

The two went as a pair (of course!) to the gala. It was fun and champagne flowed easy. Both Laura and Betty had perhaps a glass too much. There was dancing, mostly with each other, and all of it terrible, at least from Laura's end. Betty didn't seem to mind.

They talked all night. Betty had apparently been intended to go to an Ivy League university, but just as an excuse to go abroad she'd toured some foreign schools. After her visit to Silas she fell in love with the place. Something about the atmosphere, the architecture, the way the earth groaned.

Laura hadn't visited Silas before choosing it- she'd just chosen the farthest acceptable school she could to get away from home. She loved her father, and he her, but twelve years in a bubble was enough time for her. That and the Krav Maga he made her take was really eating into her computer hacker life- she only had space for so many seperate identities.

The night waned on and Laura began to suspect nothing terribly exciting was going to happen at this event. Everyone was well behaved, even Betty wasn't flirting with her admirers as much as she usually did. No, Betty only seemed to hang around Laura tonight and the perky brunette wondered why that was.

Then Laura spotted Carmilla in the crowd. The very same thief she'd watch knock out full grown men with ease and break into a casino vault was now... making small talk with girls near the drinks, wearing a corset and leather pants. Maybe it was the champagne, but Laura felt irresistibly attracted to her. She told herself it was because of the story she was going to break wide open when she cornered Carmilla and then- and then- she wasn't sure what, but she felt confident and tipsy enough she could wing it.

Obliviously interrupting Betty's strangely heartfelt request for a dance, Laura gave a quick excuse as to why she needed to run to the other side of the ballroom and put on her game face. She was a professional. A reporter. A journalist. She was on the trail of a hot story and here was the bait.

She decided to play it cool. Smooth. She'd wait until Carmilla was alone, maybe after she had dismissed another unremarkable suitor for her attention.

Which is why she was caught by total surprise when Carmilla walked up to her.

"Hey there, cupcake." Carmilla said. Laura nearly spilled her drink, turning around much too quickly. "Whoa there, a little jumpy?"

"Sorry, I just- I wasn't expe- you startled me, is all." Laura gave a weak laugh and watched as Carmilla took an empty champagne glass and filled it up, settling herself at the table beside Laura.

"Not used to being approached? Easy there, I'm not going to bite you." Carmilla spoke coolly, taking a sip of her champagne. "By the way, I'm Carmilla. What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Laura. So... what brings you to Silas? Business or pleasure?"

Carmilla looked down the length of Laura's body and rested her eyes on Laura's own for only a moment before smirking and turning away. "A little bit of both, you could say. I'm here for business, but pleasure is never too far away." Her voice was coated in sex, sleek like a panther, and the way she glanced at Laura could certainly be called predatory.

"Oh, yeah?" Laura asked, oblivious to her new designation as prey. "What kind of business do you stea- get into?"

"Mm, all sorts. Depends on who's paying me and what they want." Carmilla sipped from her glass and watched Laura carefully. "What about you, cutie? Business or pleasure?"

"Oh, I'm totally business." Laura laughed nervously. "I'm actually trying to become a journalist. Yeah."

"Oh, really?" Carmilla asked, with what seemed like genuine interest. An idea came to her and she gave a sly smile. "I could give you a personal interview, if you'd like."

Before Laura could properly formulate a reply to that, the music settled down and a waltz began to play. Carmilla set her glass on the table and extended a hand to Laura. "Tell me, do you know how to waltz?" Laura nodded, confused. and set her own drink aside. "What do you say we hit the dance floor and discuss this further?"

"Is this business or pleasure?" Laura laughed weakly, a bit taken aback by the forwardness, and a bit intrigued. Maybe it was the champagne, but a waltz with this lady- this very dangerous lady she knew to be a thief- seemed sort of... appealing at the moment.

"Mm, this is all pleasure." Carmilla purred, and pulled Laura onto the dance floor.

Face to face, chest to chest, Carmilla lead Laura on a dance through the center of the room, moving in sync. Fingers thread through fingers, Carmilla twirled Laura, and their hands reclasped together. To Laura's great surprise, she was enjoying herself. She had to fight to remind herself that dancing was not why she was here.

Taking advantage of the intimacy of the moments, Laura locked eyes with Carmilla. "I know what you're here for." She said, causing Carmilla to raise an eyebrow.

"Oh really now, sweetheart? What do you think that is?" She practically purred into Laura's ear.

"The jewel. You're gonna steal the jewel, aren't you?"

To her credit Carmilla didn't mis-step, but her eyes widened and lips tightened, and the flirtatious way she'd been regarding Laura vanished. It was not unlike a cat suddenly losing its good mood and turning into an animal dangerous to touch. "And how would you know that?"

"I, uh... I'm very good at reading people." Laura said. "Plus you're like a super criminal, you stole from that Electric Ice casino. I saw you do it! I mean.. I didn't SEE see you do it, but I saw- er, it doesn't matter how I saw it." Laura tried to cover the slip of her tongue, but it was too little too late, and the cat had it. Carmilla's eyes lit up with understanding.

"They haven't even let that slip to the news yet. So how would you know about that? You 'saw' it, huh? Ah.. you were the one controlling the cameras." Carmilla relaxed and gave Laura a twirl, perhaps dragging the freshmen back against her a little roughly. "A little too young to be working security... was someone poking their nose where it shouldn't have been?"

"Um... maybe." Laura admitted, caught off-guard. "But that's not important."

"Oh, but it means everything, cupcake. You didn't go to the authorities, you came looking for me specifically. I'm touched."

"Yes, so I could stop you from stealing the jewel."

"And how exactly do you intend to do that? Begging, pleading? A little enticing, but that's not going to stop me."

"This is not the conversation I thought I'd be having." Laura admitted. "I thought you'd just... I'm a journalist, you're supposed to-"

"What did you imagine would happen? I would just give up all the juicy details and maybe turn myself in afterwards?" Carmilla smirked. "Just how much champagne have you had? You're a child, playing at childish games." The waltz ended at that point, leaving the two standing close together, staring at each other as the other dances began to separate. "You don't even begin to understand what you're getting into."

"...maybe not, but I'm not going to give up."

This caught Carmilla off guard, and not in an unpleasant way. A sly smile crossed her lips, and after a few moments, Carmilla leaned in close and whispered into Laura's ear. "Then let the games begin, player. Maybe I'll even give you that personal interview I promised after all." She carefully placed a kiss on the stunned Laura's lips and stepped away, letting Laura's arms drop from around her, turning away, and striding off to go steal a very specific, very valuable jewel sitting in the room above them.

Laura could do nothing but stare.


	3. Suddenly

_Carmilla and its characters belong to their respective actors and owners. I'm just a writer.  
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* * *

><p>Laura turned and ran to the entrance, shoving her way past shoulders and singles, looking for the coatroom, where all the coats had been hung up in a large closet. She flipped through a row searching for her own, finding it and grabbing a small file drive out of her pocket. She could hear Betty's voice nearby, calling for her to hold up, to stop.<p>

"Laura! Where are you going? What are you doing?" Betty was confused, and maybe more than a little hurt, but not angry. She grabbed Laura's shoulders, realized what she was doing and let go awkwardly, but still staring intensely, waiting explanation.

"The jewel!" Laura exclaimed. This did not clarify anything. "The priceless jewel, the one this whole event is for?"

"What about it?" Betty shook her head, trying to understand Laura's thought process.

"It's about to be stolen! By a - by a really bad person!" Laura fidgeted and thinked and thinked and paced as a helpless Betty watched her.

"How do you know?"

"Because- she told me!" Laura said, then stopped pacing. "The security room! If I can get into there, I can hack their cameras and follow her." She began to inspect a fire alarm route map on the wall, looking for the location of the security room. Betty gaped and wrapped her arms around her chest, looking back towards the ballroom and down the corridors.

"Do we even have a security room? Why not just call the police?" Betty asked, still confused but doing her best to be helpful.

"Police can't stop her!" Laura explained, grabbing Betty's hand and taking off down a hallway. Together they ran, pink glitter and formal attire racing down a marble passageway, both hearts racing.

They reached the security room without seeing anyone or being seen was one on-site campus security agent overlooking monitors inside the security room, yawning loudly. From what they could see from the crack of the open door, the camera feeds were not showing anything unusual.

"Crap! We need to get him out of there somehow. Maybe I can use my krav maga to knock him out?" Laura suggested, mostly speaking to herself. She paced back and forth, gesturing with her hands. Her father certainly hadn't intended her to use her training like THIS.

"What? That's crazy." Betty grabbed Laura by the shoulders and pulled her towards the wall. "Laura, this is crazy. Are you sure about this?"

"YES! Betty, please, you have to trust me. Please! Something bad is going to happen, and I have to stop it. I'm the only one who can stop it!"

Betty ran her hand through her hair, frustrated and unbelieving. Puffing her cheeks out, she sighed and nodded. "Okay. okay, fine. Let me do this. Get out of sight." She shooed Laura into a nearby closet.

From within the closet Laura couldn't hear much. She heard a knock, then the muffled voice of Betty speaking, asking for help. For a moment Laura felt terrified at the thought that Betty would get into trouble, but it was only a passing thought, as Betty and the older man's voice passed by the closet and went down the hall. They didn't sound angry or excited.

Laura peeked out of the closet- the coast was clear. She jumped out and quickly slid into the opened security room, which was dimly lit, and full of monitors. The guard had been watching a movie- some disney movie about ice- and not paying attention to the screens set before him. Searching the room quickly, her eyes scanning the monitors, Laura was able to find a set of displays showing the priceless gem on its pedestal.. No one was there - the gem was still safe, for now.

She slipped her flash drive into the computer and waited for a moment as her custom-made hacks began to unzip, giving her total control over the security system within seconds.

The screen blipped and revealed an array of technobabble that only a hacking master like Laura could understand, and her fingers began to fly over the keyboard, moving cameras, zooming in, changing views. If Carmilla was on the second floor, she'd know about it. So where was she? She wasn't near the exhibit, not in the hallways, not even outside...

Maybe Laura had scared her off. That would be a victory, right? Laura chewed on her lower lip, focused intensely. She imagined where she would go if she was going to steal something. She'd take out security, first - oh.

The horrible thought that Carmilla might be right behind her right now entered her mind. She could hear Carmilla breathing, feel her presence approaching. She imagined the gothy girl standing just behind her, hands raised, teeth bared. Laura spun around, wielding the computer mouse as a weapon- no one was there. It was all in her head. She exhaled, then turned back around and there Carmilla was, on view monitor three. She was hanging on a rope attached to the ceiling. The ceiling, where the cameras had not been pointing. Carmilla had lowered herself into sight.

With incredible strength and poise Carmilla supported herself with legs interwoven around the black rope, stretching her hands out below her and carefully plucking the jewel.

Laura hesitated for a moment, then hit the silent alarm. Immediately a network of lasers appeared around the jewel and in the area nearby it. Carmilla froze in place, somehow lucky enough that her rope wasn't touched or scorched by the lasers, and that she herself was set in a neat web of lasers rather than being fried by them.

A blinking toggle caught Laura's attention, labeled "POLICE." The police had been alerted. They were on their way. On-site security was likely in a scramble to get to the jewel. Carmilla had at most two minutes, Laura estimated. Two minutes to.. what?

Carmilla began climbing up the rope as careful as could be, maneuvering her way through the laser net with nothing but her own bodily strength and agility, losing nothing more than a few hairs. It was awe inspiring, and Laura couldn't help but zero in on Carmilla's legs and biceps, the incredible amount of control and power the goth was exerting was making Laura feel very strange.

Then Carmilla was out of sight and Laura breathed in relief. Wait, she thought. Why do I feel happy she got out? She didn't have long to question her new, strange feelings.

Someone was pulling her away from the computers- Betty was there, grabbing Laura's arm. Realizing her precarious situation, being in the security room when the security went off, Laura quickly grabbed her flash drive and pulled it out, shutting down all her programs, leaving no trace behind before she was dragged away.

Shushing Laura as quickly as she could, Betty dragged the hacker girl into the nearby closet, slamming it behind them.

"What happened?!" Laura asked. "Where's the guard?"

"He passed out! I think, I think someone drugged him!" Betty responded. "I heard a whole bunch of people coming- they were coming this way so I had to pull you out!"

"Sssh!" Laura whispered. People were right outside the closet door. She grabbed for Betty's hands instinctively, and they pulled closer together as if it would somehow make them smaller and unnoticeable.

Someone flung open the door and Laura and Betty both held up their hands to the flashlight being shown directly on them by some large unhappy men.


End file.
